so i drove it to work this morning,"pinging" all the way.....half hour drive.....could not get past 95kmph.....no power.....

so i thought about it all day as i went about my work....reminded me of a old honda civic my friend had,he had bent a intake valve&it would blow fuel out of the carb.....

as i did my last errands before going home,my last stop was wal-mart i still dont have a timing belt cover on this motor so i decided to check my base timing......AND IT WAS OUT OF TIME! i rolled the motor over again to make sure,lined up my marks and the crank was out by 2 or 3 notches!

cam lined up perfect,but the crank was retarded 2 or 3 notches.(not much daylight at this point) i had a single wrench in my car(4 in 1 metric ratchet wrench) broke the belt tensioner loose,removed belt from cam,turned crank cw until it looked like it was on the mark,installed belt&made it tight.fired car up and at first it was really lumpy,then i gave the dizzy a small turn and it cleared right up!took it for a quik run around the wal-mart and it ran great,lots of power!

now why would the timing jump?i think it was a combo of things,one being no belt cover(i do drive 14 km of gravel everyday)2)decking the cyl head makes the belt a little too long,even my "modified" belt tensioner doesnt take enuf slack out of the belt 3)last friday i geared down to help me slow down from a high rate of speed,and i never do that,then comes monday morning drive to work,and i blame the poor performance on running the gas tank too low.

i am finally getting almost 500 km per tank (last tank was 487 km),driving at 120 kmh (75mph) every day. but the speedo is out due to larger tires,plus my daily commute is 112 km......i put gas in once a week.....(every 5 days,10 trips total)

some updates on the blue lump of coal........ put the car on the hoist to do some work,thats when I notice 1)gravel road has hammered my exhaust pipe almost flat at the 90*bend by the gas tank2)same goes for the fuel filter,steel lines hammered flat from gravel3)damaged coil springs4)gas filler tube damaged from gravel 5)one strut completely shot(already knew that!)6)e-brake cables damaged from gravel7)any nut/bolt under there damaged from gravelblown out outer c.v. boot, pass side9)exhaust leak at front,from donut on the pipe10)broken transmission mounts/torque rods (damn automatics)11)might need new brake drums

small list of repairs.....oh yeah forgot to mention,the other morning I hit a deer,crumpled the pass side fender,smashed the corner marker,broke the headlight bezel......pooped my pants.....not really,but I saw him running thru the field at a high rate of speed,no amount of horn honking and light flashing slowed him down.he came thru the farmers approach and ran right into my car, then over the roof,landing on the gravel road behind me,doing a seemingly non-stop barrel roll.the deer than got up,shook it off and ran back into the field where it came from,minus some hair that was stuck to the front of the car.insurance would call this car a write-off,but that's not my style.i should have enough parts to fix it up,i even have matching blue cars for parts.but no extra bezels.damn

235,000 kmgetting almost 50 mpg stillmost of that list was repaired last week except for the deer damage and the mounts (still waiting for those parts).

did some minor repairs as of late on the blue lump of coal....now sitting at 242,xxx kms ...replaced rear drums and shoes,drums well worn.new bearings in drums.installed underbody brace (feels more tied together now)sprayed underside of car with rockguard/rust sealerinstalled 4 slim mount 15 watt led lights in the front bumper slot,all new wiring/relays/fuses.xtra 60 watts of light there.high lumen count,great fog/off road light!!! INSTALLED A HID/XENON H4 BULB SETUP into my 4x6 Bosch glass lens headlights....55 watt 6000k bulbs.WHY THE HELL DID I NOT DO THIS SOONER HOLY CRAP BRIGHTNESS I installed all new wiring,fuse block,relays, AND a floor mounted dimmer switch (whats that?) Installed some led interior lights now working on steam-cleaning the seats and carpet,and moving the speakers into better locations.currently there is no rear interior in the car,all removed for cleaning/mods...washed down with bleach/water mix,i keep getting mice in this car,and it was starting to stink in the back,hence the removal/cleaning before winter.Will add some more sound mat before putting seats/carpet back in all in a days work

Changed brands of oil I use,(from petro-can to co-op silver) --last 2 oil changes saw ZERO use/loss of oilprevious brand always half a litre low before oil change--- new brand of oil stays at the exact level for the full duration (5000 KM),not even dropping a tiny bit on the stick.

the co-op oil is free to the shop cuz the company I work for uses large volumes of fuel, all I pay for is the pump on the 2000 litre tote of oil(300 bucks) and I could keep the pump or exchange it for a new one everytime I get a fresh tote of oil.....seems like a decent deal to me

oh and if I wanted synthetic it would cost ONE DOLLAR per litre(min 2000 litre tote)but comes with a free pump every time.....full exchange.....

too many choices.......but I think synthetic is my next route for oil in the shop.....almost 40 different types of equipment we have,and I can get ONE type of oil to fit them all......

Gas mileage was getting bad,so I decided to install new plugs and air filter.air filter was really dirty,and the plugs were really worn out.#1 cyl has hardly any electrode left in it,the other 2 not much better.it was weird,the car 'all of a sudden' became hard on fuel.noticed a difference after the tune-up,better on gas AND more pep in the step ,all for 50 bucks

So I added a new o2 sensor to the tune up,and then a few months later it failed,blowing the wire out of the sensor.Install another new one,and two months later the check engine light comes on,and look at that-the wire is very loose in the o2 sensor----pushed the wire back in, and the light went out...... dammit cheap shit from ebay

I will get a bosch next time I am in town...damn you you cheap knock-off parts!!!!!

I installed the two relays for the led lights inside the existing relay/fuseblock. A little trimming internally and the relays fit right in the same spot where the factory a/c and fog light relays would have gone.

I installed the hid relays and fuseblock on the firewall. that seemed to be the easiest location for me. A little more planning and a person could hide the wiring and relays in the stock fuseblock under the hood.Then no one would notice the extra wiring,and help keep it clean looking under the hood.

could smell oil over the last few weeks.....then noticed the trans was leaking, between motor and trans. pull motor to replace tq convertor seal, pulled out convertor only to find a large scrape mark inside the housing the diff pin was making its way out, gouging a hole thru the case..... was still shifting fine, but i most likely would have not made it home. swapped trans, new seals, fluids.swapped cam/ sprocket, now it smokes and now i cant get it in time properly and it idles so low the oil pressure light comes onand i have been going thru hid ballasts like crazy, but only on one side...?

tossing around the idea of a high compression n/a build........inherited a mk 1 engine (from my local machine shop, in pieces, already hot-tanked) .20 over slugs, good rods/crank/cyl head....block is shot.use my block if it is ok, my cyl head if its ok (deck it more, refresh valves/guides, maybe s/s oversize)I do have extra parts if mine are totally done.SINGH GROOVES- do they work?more port matching (no turbo, no need to go overboard)upgrade exhaust taking two weeks off from work, but it wont be spent on this car.

still waiting for parts to show up, had a hard time getting new rings for the flat-top .20 over pistons.finally got the rings in last week, but now waiting for the head gasket kit that's what happens when I let the machine shop source parts for me...but at least it was his leg work, not mine might refresh the cyl head.....probably should.....

so I got all the parts, and decided to put it back together on the long week-end (turkey day)a few vertical scrapes on the cylinder walls, even after bottle brush honing them. most likely should have been re-bored, but I would then have to buy larger pistons (block already .20 over).installed new rings on the mk1 .20 over pistons I inherited from a Suzuki samurai new bearings on the rodsnew head gasket. cleaned cyl head and egr ports, its already decked .40 thou. mike's head bolts.fresh oil, antifreeze. port matched exhaust manifold, head. ( I was bored)fired right up. 60 psi cold. when it got hot, maybe 10 psi same as before I rebuilt it.took it for a short drive in fist gear, stop and start, to seat the rings.put it back in shop, checked the base timing, out by a notch.debating about putting mikes cam& gear back in. maybe at first oil change.that's about it for now. will park the gti for winter and drive the metro in the snow and cold.I have another 1.0 with a dead cyl , I might do a proper rebuild on that one, to have as a spare, or drop it in the vert. the motor in the vert is using oil, blows blue when you rev it up.(and that one was rebuilt already, not by me , but by a performance/speed shop )I don't like vehicles that leak or smoke, and the wife HATES vehicles that leak or smoke.

got over 3 years and 80,000 miles on the last "rebuild " I did on it......and the no.2 cylinder has the same deep score mark as it did then all highway miles, at 75 mph or better.drive it until the auto craps out (again) get the new tags this weekend, then flog the shit out of it.ding ding round three

did a pre-trip on the car sunday before I took it to work Monday.....tires on the front were low but the rear were fine. topped up rad and overflow tank, added a little more oil. removed rear seats, spare tire in order to clean out the huge mouse nest next to the spare and under seat. sprayed down with Lysol cleaner, then left small rags soaked in peppermint oil to try to keep them mice out of there.the mice seem to love this car, the gti and the turbo. yet I have another chevy sprint with no mouse damage at all the car ran fine on the shake-down run this morning, no issues noted. parked it in the shop, not a single drop of anything under the car. kinda weird to go from driving the gti to driving the auto 3 banger.... caught myself trying to push in the clutch but its kinda nice just to put it in gear and gonow to clean up my shop, and start on the next project.....work on the twincam, get those damn oil leaks fixed.

so far so good first tank netted me 458 km on 36.5 liters of gas. 35 mpg. automatic. first day driving was up and down in speed to help seat the rings. after that it was driven between 110-120 kmh (60-75 mph) with a short run at 130 kmh (80 mph). not trying to get mpg right now, doesn't help with the wide tires, either. has a little bit of a ping, but that goes away when fully warmed up.maybe a oil and filter change later today.thinking of turning one of my extra cars into a spl vehicle. remove rear seat, build a wall for 4-12's, maybe 6-10's. what else am I going to do with the 3 other extra cars, anyways?

motor just died on the way home last night. good vitals, but no compression. belt ok. walked the majority of the way home, I did not have my cell phone, a kind stranger picked me up and drove me the rest of the way home. nice guy.went in my shop, grabbed my tow-bar and truck. then the wife and I went back and rescued it from the side of the highway.trans acting up as well, no more open diff. locked up solid, like a posi unit.

yes, that is the wrist pin you see in the last photo. the other 2 cylinders look damaged as well.used a scoping camera to check it out. I knew as soon as I tried to remove the no.1 cylinder spark plug there was a problem....the plug was damn tight....I don't know if it dropped a valve, or if a plug failed and went thru the piston. my valve clearance was fine. plugs were fairly new.I guess shit just happens

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